System, method and computer-accessible medium for providing wide-field superresolution microscopy

ABSTRACT

Exemplary embodiments of apparatus, system, method and computer-accessible medium using which at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation is generated. Such radiation depletes at least one excited state of at least one molecule. Further, it is possible to generate at least one second electro-magnetic radiation based on the first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation(s). For example, the second electro-magnetic radiation(s) can have a pattern with a plurality of spots.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 61/147,346, filed on Jan. 26, 2009, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate to system, method and computer-accessible medium for providing information associated with samples, and in particular to exemplary system, method and computer-accessible medium for utilizing wide-field superresolution microscopy.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Recently, changes in optical microscopy have taken place, providing a possibility of sub-diffraction limited fluorescence imaging, also termed “nanoscopy.” (See Hell S. W., “Toward fluorescence nanoscopy”, Nat. Biotechnol. 2003, 21:1347-55). These advances can be referred to PALM/STORM (see Betzig E. et al., “Imaging intracellular fluorescent proteins at nanometer resolution”, Science 2006, 313:1642-5; and Rust M. J. et al., “Sub-diffraction-limit imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM)”, Nat Methods, 2006, 3:793- 5) and STED (see Westphal V., “Video-rate far-field optical nanoscopy dissects synaptic vesicle movement”, Science 2008, 320:246-9; and Willig K. I. et al., “STED microscopy reveals that synaptotagmin remains clustered after synaptic vesicle exocytosis”, Nature 2006, 440:935-9).

The concept of PALM/STORM is to repeatedly photoactivate sparse fluorophores with a separation that is greater than the diffraction limit and precisely resolve their locations using a Gaussian fitting procedure. The STED concept operates by depleting the excitable fluorophores surrounding the center of the imaging spot using a donut-shaped beam. Both techniques have provided images of sub-cellular detail with resolutions approaching 30 nm, heretofore only observable by electron microscopy. (See Westphal V. et al., “Video-rate far-field optical nanoscopy dissects synaptic vesicle movement”, Science 2008, 320:246-9; and Huang B. et al., “Three-dimensional super-resolution imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy”. Science 2008, 319:810-3).

The above-described technologies have limitations. For example, the PALM/STORM procedure likely requires the excitation of rare events and currently takes many hours to achieve adequate signal to noise, prohibiting the imaging of living organisms. The STED procedures can work faster (see Westphal V. et al, “Video-rate far-field optical nanoscopy dissects synaptic vesicle movement”, Science 2008, 320:246-9), but may rely on the integrity of a donut beam to populate excited states. The lack of such integrity can limit or prevent sub-diffraction limited imaging deep into tissues, as aberrations in tissue likely destroy the shape of the donut beam. A technique capable of providing sub-diffraction limited imaging of intact or living tissues would likely provide a significant number of possibilities for nanoscopy in the biological sciences. When applied to problems in human medicine, for example, deep tissue nanoscopy in animal and human studies can provide an improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of tissue issues.

Accordingly, exemplary systems, methods and computer-accessible medium providing sub-diffraction limited imaging of intact or living tissues may be beneficial to overcome at least some of the above-described issues and/or deficiencies.

SUMMARY OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Thus, at least some of the above-described issues and/or deficiencies can be addressed with the exemplary embodiments of the systems, methods and computer-accessible medium according to the present disclosure.

Thus, exemplary embodiments of apparatus, system, method and computer- accessible medium can be provided which generate at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation (e.g., using at least one first arrangement). Such radiation depletes at least one excited state of at least one molecule. Further, it is possible to generate at least one second electro-magnetic radiation (e.g., using at least one second arrangement) based on the first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation(s). For example, the second electro-magnetic radiation(s) can have a pattern with a plurality of spots.

According to one exemplary embodiment, the pattern can be a speckle pattern, and/or may be changeable. The first arrangement(s) can be configured to generate at least one third pulsed electro-magnetic radiation which can excite the molecule(s) and precede the second pulsed electro-magnetic radiation(s) in time. The molecule(s) can be provided in a biological structure. At least one third arrangement can also be provided which is configured to forward the second and third radiations to a substantially the same location on or in a biological structure. Further, at least one fourth arrangement can be provided which is configured to receive at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation from the biological structure. Such exemplary fourth electro-magnetic radiation(s) can have a wavelength which is different from a wavelength of the second electro-magnetic radiation(s).

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the fourth arrangement(s) can generate an image of at least one portion of the biological structure based on the fourth electro-magnetic radiation(s). The fourth arrangement(s) can include an array of detectors or at least one charged coupled detector. The fourth arrangement can generate a plurality of different images of a plurality of portions of the biological structure having a plurality of distinct patterns based on the fourth electro-magnetic radiation, and form a final image from the plurality of the image.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the second arrangement can be controllable to change the pattern of the second electro-magnetic radiation(s). At least one fifth arrangement can be provided which controls the second arrangement(s) to change the pattern of second electro-magnetic radiation(s). The fifth arrangement(s) can include (i) a spatial light modulator, (ii) a digital light processor, (iii) a movable diffusing arrangement, and/or (iv) a digital mirror arrangement.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, when taken in conjunction with the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a Speckle Superresolution Microscopy (“SSM”) apparatus according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a synchronization system according to the present disclosure which synchronizes two radiations by, e.g., sharing the same electro-magnetic radiation source arrangement (e.g., a laser);

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the synchronization system according to the present disclosure which synchronizes two radiations by, e.g., utilizing an electronic control thereof;

FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a pattern generation system according to the present disclosure in a transmission mode;

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of the exemplary embodiment of the pattern generation system of FIG. 3A in a reflection mode;

FIG. 4A is an exemplary image of a simulation speckle pattern according to the present disclosure that illustrates available nulls in the exemplary pattern;

FIG. 4B is an exemplary simulation SSM image of a uniformly fluorescent biological structure generated using the exemplary system according to the present disclosure that indicates available excitation fluorophores in the nulls in the pattern as shown in FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is an exemplary image of another simulation speckle pattern according to the present disclosure that illustrates the available nulls in the exemplary pattern;

FIG. 4D is another exemplary corresponding simulation SSM image of a uniformly fluorescent biological structure generated using the exemplary system according to the present disclosure that indicates the available excitation fluorophores in the nulls in the pattern as shown in FIG. 4C;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a detection system according to the present disclosure that uses a magnification system to image a sample on a wide-field detector; and

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an image construction method according to the present disclosure for data obtained from the SSM procedure and/or system.

Throughout the figures, the same reference numerals and characters, unless otherwise stated, are used to denote like features, elements, components or portions of the illustrated embodiments. Moreover, while the subject disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the figures, it is done so in connection with the illustrative embodiments. It is intended that changes and modifications can be made to the described exemplary embodiments without departing from the true scope and spirit of the subject disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure which can be termed Speckle Superresolution Microscopy (“SSM”), the use of laser speckle patterns to saturate excited states can be employed, while leaving small focal locations at the nulls of the speckle pattern available for excitation. One exemplary advantage of using speckle is that, unlike STED, a coherent speckle pattern likely retains a strong zero-intensity null, even in the presence of a high degree of scattering deep into tissue. In addition, due to these strong nulls, the effective saturation factor can be about 2 orders of magnitude higher than that of the donut beam.

Unlike the PALM/STORM concept, the exemplary techniques and processes according to the present disclosure are likely not stochastic. Most of the fluorophores within the nulls may be available for excitation, beneficially resulting in a much higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Moreover, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, a bleaching stage-activation cycle may not be required. For example, with the exemplary SSM techniques according to the present disclosure, the nulls can be changed by altering the speckle pattern.

A schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an SSM system according to the present disclosure is shown in FIG. 1. Such exemplary system can include, e.g., two continuous wave or pulsed light sources 110, 120, a speckle generator 122, a beam combination element/arrangement 125, a beam split element/arrangement 135, two lenses 191, 192 and a detector element/arrangement 150.

For example, using such exemplary system of FIG. 1, light 100 from the light source 110 can be modulated by the speckle pattern generator 122 to generate the light 101 with a speckle pattern. Two radiations 101, 102 can be combined together by a beam combination element/arrangement 125, and the combined radiations are illuminated on the substantially same position on or in the sample 180. The radiation 102 can excite at least one molecule on or in the biological structure. In a pulse mode, the excitation pulsed radiation train 102 precedes the speckle pulsed radiation train 102 in time so that the speckle radiation may deplete the excited molecules of the biological structure on the focal plane. In such exemplary case, most of the fluorophores within the speckle locations on the pattern can be depleted to the ground states by the radiation 101. Only those fluorophores within the at least one null beyond the diffraction limit provided by the pattern may remain available for the fluorescence excitation. Thus, a fluorescent emission signal 103, which has the information of their locations on or in the biological structure, can be provided through the lens 191 and used to record, e.g., individually, with a super-resolution precision.

The fluorescent emission signal 103 can be transmitted back through the same lens 191, and directed to a detection channel by the beam split element/arrangement 135. The lens 192 can magnify the image of the sample 180 to the detector element/arrangement 150.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to saturate the excited molecules, excitation and speckle radiations can be synchronized. For example, two different synchronization configurations can be obtained. FIG. 2A depicts a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an optical synchronization system, with two radiations 201, 203 coming from the same electro-magnetic (e.g., initial laser) source arrangement 210. The radiation from the laser source 210 can be split into two parts by a beam splitter element/arrangement 211. One part can be the radiation (e.g., light) 201, which can be the light for a speckle generation. In another path, an electro-magnetic radiation (e.g., light) 202 can be transmitted through a wavelength converter 212 to generate a radiation 203 have a particular excitation wavelength.

FIG. 2B shows another exemplary embodiment of the synchronization system according to the present disclosure. For example, an electro-magnetic radiation (e.g., light) source 251 can generate a radiation 261 for a speckle generation, and another electro-magnetic radiation (e.g., light) source 252 can be used to generate an excitation radiation 262. Two radiations 261, 262 can be synchronized by an electronic synchronization arrangement 270.

To generate a changeable speckle pattern, e.g., two different exemplary configurations can be implemented. For example, as shown in FIG. 3A which illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a pattern generation system according to the present disclosure in a transmission mode, the incident light 301 is transmitted through a changeable speckle generator 330, and then, a speckle pattern 302 is generated. FIG. 3B shows a block diagram of another embodiment of the pattern generation system in which a changeable speckle generator 350 can be used in a reflection mode to generate a speckle pattern 342 for the incident light 341. One or both of the speckle generators 330, 350 can be diffusing arrangement(s), a spatial light modulator, a digital light processor, a digital mirror arrangement, or any other speckle generator which can generate speckle patterns or alternatively any arbitrary pattern. A plurality of distinct patterns can be produced by altering the illumination's angle of incidence, and/or by rotating one or moth of the generators 330, 350, changing the speckle pattern, or employing any other means to generate different patterns. In such exemplary manner, the locations of the nulls on the patterns can be changed.

FIGS. 4A-4D show illustrations of two exemplary images associated with simulation speckle a simulation patterns and two corresponding simulation SSM images, respectively, that explain the exemplary embodiment of the techniques according to the present disclosure. For example, a fully developed exemplary speckle pattern is shown in FIG. 4A, demonstrating the exemplary characteristic graininess seen when illuminating a scattering substance with a coherent laser. For example, the speckle pattern can illuminate a uniformly fluorescing sample such that most of the sample is driven into stimulated depletion of the ground state, as shown FIG. 4B. In such exemplary case, most of the fluorophores within the locations represented by the nulls (black spots) likely remain available for fluorescence excitation. These dark spots can be generally separated from each with a precision that is smaller than the diffraction limit, and thus their locations may be individually resolvable with great precision using certain fitting procedures.

The locations of the dark spots can be changed to produce a new pattern by altering the illumination's angle of incidence or creating a new speckle pattern, e.g., as shown in FIGS. 4C and 4D. The exemplary procedure can be repeated by changing the pattern, and detecting another image of a substantially different set of dark spots. The detection of a plurality of images and recombination of this plurality of images can provide a resultant image of the structure. Wide field imaging and optical sectioning can be accomplished by an exemplary method described in, e.g., Ventalon C. and Mertz J., “Quasi-confocal fluorescence sectioning with dynamic speckle illumination”, Opt. Lett. 2005, 30:3350-2, by measuring the variance or edges or high spatial frequency content of the speckle pattern as it is changed over time. A supperresolution in the axial direction can also be facilitated by using the astigmatism STORM procedure discussed in, e.g., Huang B. et al., “Three-dimensional super-resolution imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy”. Science 2008, 319:810-3.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a detection system according to the present disclosure that uses a magnification system to image a sample on a wide-field detector. An exemplary fluorescent emission from at least one null beyond the diffraction limit of the speckle on or in the biological structure 550 can be magnified by the lenses 501, 502 of the exemplary detection system, and detected by a detection element/arrangement 555, such as a charged coupled detector (CCD) or an array of detectors. The magnification can be designed or selected to have resolution that exceeds the diffraction limit. Thus, the detection element/arrangement 555 can record the image of the biological structure 550 with a pixel size that can correspond to a portion of the image that is smaller than the exemplary diffraction limit.

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an imaging construction procedure from data collection to completion of a full image acquisition according to the present disclosure. For example, a speckle pattern can be generated (procedure 610), and an image can be acquired based on the speckle pattern (procedure 620). Then it can be determined if there are enough images (procedure 630). If not, then the processing returns to step 610. Otherwise, images are recombined to generate a resultant image of structure. In this exemplary manner, an image of the biological structure can be obtained based on the speckle pattern of the depletion radiation. Each speckle pattern can yield a certain number of image pixels based on the null locations of the speckle pattern. Different speckle patterns can yield different images with only a few pixels illuminated therein. Therefore, by continuously changing the speckle patterns and acquiring multiple images, a resultant image of the entire structure can be obtained by combining a plurality of different images facilitated by a plurality of speckle patterns. This can be done by the use of arithmetic combination(s), including addition, weighted summation, and/or the like.

The exemplary procedures to facilitate the operation of the exemplary embodiments of the system according to the present disclosure and/or execute the exemplary method shown in FIG. 6 can be performed by software. Such software can be provided on or in a computer-accessible medium (e.g., hard drive, RAM, ROM, floppy disk, memory stick, SD car, mini-SD card, a plurality thereof and/or combination thereof). This software can be accessed, and then used by a processing arrangement (e.g., one or more computers) to program and/or configure such computer(s) to execute the procedures defined and/or established by the software on the processing arrangement to control the exemplary system/arrangement/method and obtain the results, as described herein above.

The peak power requirements and/or preferences for wide field SSM can likely be greater than that of STED. To achieve significant STED action, the peak pulse energy density generally can be on the order of, e.g., about 10-100 MW/cm2. Common pulsed lasers with sufficient peak power can be used when the light is focused to a single spot with a high (e.g., NA>1.0) lens. Utilizing the SSM systems, methods and/or procedures, an extended field can be illuminated, thus likely diminishing the irradiance by at least the square of the illuminated field diameter. Since the exemplary SSM systems, methods and procedures can process one photon, the requirement/preference of power is likely lower than with the multi-photon processes. Thus, it is possible to achieve the preferable results using the exemplary SSM systems and/or procedures with a conventional laser source. Moreover, it has been described that STED action can be attained at far lower powers by utilizing triplet state relaxation (TREX). (See, e.g., Donnert G. et al. “Macromolecular-scale resolution in biological fluorescence microscopy”, Proc Natl Acad Sci US, 2006, 103:11440-5). An improved saturation factor found with speckle illumination can assist with the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, e.g., by diminishing the power requirements further. Nevertheless, if the exemplary wide field SSM procedure is intractable due to the unavailability of appropriate laser sources, the exemplary SSM procedures and/or techniques can be conducted in a point scanning mode using conventional pulsed lasers and multiple or multi-node (i.e. quadrant) detectors.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the exemplary SSM systems, methods and/or procedures are capable of achieving a super-resolution image of a structure by speckle pattern saturation. For example, the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can provide exemplary system, method, computer-accessible medium and procedure for providing wide-field super resolution microscopy in structures including scattering media using SSM.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. Indeed, the arrangements, systems and methods according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be used with and/or implement any OCT system, OFDI system, SD-OCT system or other imaging systems, and for example with those described in International Patent Application PCT/US2004/029148, filed Sep. 8, 2004 which published as International Patent Publication No. WO 2005/047813 on May 26, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/266,779, filed Nov. 2, 2005 which published as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0093276 on May 4, 2006, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/501,276, filed Jul. 9, 2004 which published as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0018201 on Jan. 27, 2005, and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2002/0122246, published on May 9, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements and methods which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In addition, to the extent that the prior art knowledge has not been explicitly incorporated by reference herein above, it is explicitly being incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications referenced herein above are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 

1. An apparatus comprising: at least one first arrangement configured to generate at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation which depletes at least one excited state of at least one molecule; and at least one second arrangement which is configured to generate at least one second electro-magnetic radiation based on the at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation, the at least one second electro-magnetic radiation has a pattern with a plurality of spots.
 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern is a speckle pattern.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the pattern is changeable.
 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one first arrangement is further configured to generate at least one third pulsed electro-magnetic radiation which excites the at least one molecule and precedes the at least one second pulsed electro-magnetic radiation in time.
 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one molecule is provided in a biological structure.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising at least one third arrangement which is configured to forward the second and third radiations to a substantially the same location on or in a biological structure.
 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising at least one fourth arrangement which is configured to receive at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation from the biological structure, the at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation has a wavelength which is different from a wavelength of the at least one second electro-magnetic radiation.
 8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the at least one fourth arrangement generates an image of at least one portion of the biological structure based on the at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation.
 9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the at least one fourth arrangement includes an array of detectors or at least one charged coupled detector.
 10. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the at least one fourth arrangement generates a plurality of different images of a plurality of portions of the biological structure having a plurality of distinct patterns based on the at least one fourth electro-magnetic radiation, and forms a final images from the plurality of the image.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one second arrangement is controllable to change the pattern of the at least one second electro-magnetic radiation.
 12. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising at least one fifth arrangement which controls the at least one second arrangement to change the pattern of the at least one second electro-magnetic radiation.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the at least one fifth arrangement includes at least one of (i) a spatial light modulator, (ii) a digital light processor, (iii) a movable diffusing arrangement, or (iv) a digital mirror arrangement.
 14. A method comprising: generating at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation which depletes at least one excited state of at least one molecule; and generating at least one second electro-magnetic radiation based on the at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation, the at least one second electro-magnetic radiation has a pattern with a plurality of spots.
 15. A computer-accessible medium which has software thereon, wherein, when a computing arrangement retrieves and executes the software, the computing arrangement is configured to perform procedures comprising: causing a generation of at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation which depletes at least one excited state of at least one molecule; and causing a generation of at least one second electro-magnetic radiation based on the at least one first pulsed electro-magnetic radiation, the at least one second electro-magnetic radiation has a pattern with a plurality of spots. 